![]() |
|
|
2 INSERM U557; INRA U1125; CNAM; University Paris 13, Centre de Recherche en Nutrition Humaine, 93017 Bobigny, France; 3 Département dEpidémiologie et de Santé Publique, 76000 Rouen; and 4 Service dEpidémiologie et Santé Publique; INSERM U744; Institut Pasteur de Lille, 59019 Lille Cedex, France
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jean.dallongeville{at}pasteur-lille.fr.
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| Introduction |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Several cohort studies have examined the relation between fruit and vegetable intake and coronary heart disease. The results of these studies have been summarized in previous reviews (4), and an earlier pooled analysis reported an inverse association between intake of fiber from fruit and vegetables and CHD risk (5). In general, these studies report a favorable relation between fruit and vegetable consumption and CHD occurrence, although sometimes the results are inconsistent. Furthermore, the magnitude of the favorable association remains uncertain because of differences in methodological approaches, analytical techniques, and outcome definitions. Two recent meta-analyses have reported an inverse association between fruit and vegetable consumption and the occurrence of stroke (6,7), which supports the idea that fruit and vegetable consumption might protect against cardiovascular events. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to assess, through meta-analysis, the magnitude of the relation between fruit and vegetable consumption and the risk of CHD. Only cohort studies using quantitative methods of dietary intake assessment were used for the present meta-analysis.
| Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Searches were conducted in electronic databases (Medline and EMBASE) from 1970 to January 2006. References from the extracted papers, reviews, and previous meta-analysis were also consulted to complete the data bank. The electronic search includes both free-text and MeSH terms and was performed with the support of the laboratory librarian. Used terms were: "cardiovascular disease," "heart disease," "ischemic heart disease," "myocardial infarction," "coronary heart disease," "cohort studies," "prospective studies," "follow-up studies," "fruit," and "vegetables." No attempt was made to contact authors of unpublished works or to find articles in languages other than English. Two investigators (L.D. and J.D.) performed data collection. Disagreements were resolved by consensus.
We included in the analysis the cohorts' reporting incidence of relative risk (RR) for coronary heart events. When more than one outcome was available we included, by order of priority: 1) fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), 2) ischemic heart disease mortality or coronary death, and 3) coronary heart disease incidence. Studies that reported cardiovascular events only, or combined cerebro- and cardiovascular events, were excluded. Inclusion criteria for exposure variables were fruit and/or vegetable consumption per se and not their representative nutrients. Thus, we included in the analysis only the following food groups named in the articles: "vegetables," "all vegetables," "vegetables rich in carotenoïds," "fruit," or "all fruit." Individual fruit or vegetables, such as tomatoes, garlic, beans, etc. were excluded. There was no restriction on the method of dietary assessment provided that the method involved a computation of the amount of fruit and vegetable intake and not just the frequency of intake. Therefore, food intake was assessed by means of food records, diet history methods, and food frequency questionnaires. As long as the exposure variable was always fruit and/or vegetables, the definition of this variable could vary among studies. For instance, fruit juices were included with fruit in some studies and potatoes were included with vegetables in others.
Literature and reference searches identified 20 studies (827). Four were excluded because CHD events were pooled with cardiovascular (8,9) or cerebrovascular events (10), therefore not permitting a separate analysis of CHD events (11). Four studies were excluded because the food frequency questionnaire did not assess the quantity of fruit and/or vegetable intake (1215). Three were excluded because there were insufficient data to extrapolate the relative risks (1719). Data from the ATBC study were taken from Hirvonen et al. (21) instead of Pietinen et al. (20). The final data set consisted of 9 independent studies (16,2127) comprising 221,080 subjects and 5007 events with a follow-up between 5 and 19 y (Table 1).
|
|
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Six cohorts reported an association between fruit and vegetable intake and risk of CHD. The sample size was 48,039 men and 127,316 women, all of whom were from the U.S. The end-points were: fatal and nonfatal MI in 3 studies, coronary death in 2, and incident CHD in 1 study. The total number of events was 3561. The RRs of CHD for each increment of 1 portion/d of fruits and vegetables varied between 0.79 and 0.97 (Fig. 1A). There was no evidence of heterogeneity among studies (P = 0.17). In a random-effect model the pooled RR (95% CI) of CHD was 0.96 (0.930.99, P = 0.0027).
|
Seven cohorts reported the association between vegetable intake and risk of CHD; the results of the Mobile Clinic Social Insurance were presented in men and women separately. The sample size was 82,524 men and 117,108 women, of whom 169,127 were from the U.S. and 30,505 from Finland. The end-points were: fatal and nonfatal MI in 4 studies and coronary death in the others. The total number of events was 3833. The RRs for each additional portion of vegetable/d varied from 0.60 to 0.98 (Fig. 1C). There was evidence for heterogeneity among studies (P = 0.004). In a random-effect model the pooled RR (95% CI) of CHD for each additional portion of vegetables/d was 0.89 (0.830.95, P = 0.0023). The RR (95% CI) of fatal and nonfatal MI (4 studies) was 0.95 (0.920.99, P = 0.0058), and the RR for mortality (3 studies) was 0.74 (0.750.84, P < 0.0001), with no evidence of heterogeneity (P = 0.66 and P = 0.36, respectively).
The scatter-plots of the association between fruit and fruit and vegetable intake and RRs from the individual studies are compatible with a linear relation (Fig. 2). The results are more heterogeneous for vegetable consumption. Visual inspection of the funnel plot (Fig. 3) suggests a publication bias although, the Egger test, for fruit and vegetables (P = 0.23), fruit (P = 0.11), and vegetables (P = 0.08).
|
|
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Clinical and biological investigations support the protective effect of fruit and vegetables against CHD. Firstly, the relation is biologically plausible with abundant clinical and laboratory data demonstrating that the micro- and macro-constituents of fruit and vegetables improve important risk factors of CHD, such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes (13). Secondly, the association persists after adjustment on these risk factor, suggesting a specific effect of fruit and vegetables. Thirdly, the scatter-plot representation of the relation shows a linear trend between fruit and vegetable intake and RR, which supports a dose-response relation. In contrast, other facts are not in favor of a causal relation. In population studies fruit and vegetable intake correlates with healthy lifestyles, which may explain the lower CHD rates. Generally, consumers of fruit and vegetables smoke less, exercise more, and are better educated than nonconsumers (31). Although most studies adjust for lifestyle factors, residual confounders may still explain part of the favorable association with CHD. High intakes of fruit and vegetables are associated with a prudent diet pattern (32,33) and inversely related to the consumption of saturated fatrich food (27), which may also contribute to the lower CHD risk (3234). Furthermore, the hypothetical mechanisms involved in the protective effects of fruit and vegetables have not always been confirmed in randomized clinical trials (3537). Therefore, the results of the present study support the concept that the regular consumption of fruit and vegetables is associated with low rates of CHD, however, it does not establish a causal relation.
This study has several limitations. First, the finding of a possible publication bias suggests that the values of the RRs are probably overestimated. The reasons for this bias are not known. One possible explanation may be that during the process of selecting the publications we might have excluded a number of critical studies. Among these, 4 presented nonsignificant associations between vegetable intake and CHD (14,1719) and 3 presented favorable associations (12,13,15). Second, the analysis of the relation between vegetable intake and CHD risk revealed heterogeneity among studies (P = 0.0043). Analyses stratified by outcomes gave some clues to explain this heterogeneity. The association between vegetable intake and CHD risk was more pronounced for cardiovascular mortality than for incident CHD. The reason for this difference is not known. One possible explanation may be the publication bias. Because mortality studies have fewer outcomes than studies reporting incident CHD, their 95% CI of RRs are wider. Thus associations (RRs) must be stronger to reach statistical significance. Alternatively, consumption of vegetables might have specific effects on mortality, a hypothesis that needs confirmation in cohorts with large numbers of fatal outcomes. Third, the meta-analysis is based on observational studies, which leaves the possibility that residual confounding factors, including measurement errors, affect the relation between fruit and/or vegetable intake and CHD. Fourth, there were many differences among studies, including dietary assessment methods, the variety of fruit or vegetables investigated, the definition of the reference group, and the choice of exposure categories. These differences could affect the estimation of the true relation. Fifth, due to the limited number of studies, subgroup analyses to test the possible impact of gender, geographical area, and other factors were not performed. Finally, 7 of 9 studies were conducted in North America. Therefore, the results reflect the association in this country and not necessarily in other parts of the world where dietary habits and background may differ substantially.
In conclusion, this analysis presents evidence of a beneficial association between fruit and vegetable consumption and CHD risk, supporting the recommendation to eat a sufficient amount of fruit and vegetables to lower CHD risk. The strength of this association, however, is still uncertain because of a possible publication or selection bias. Furthermore, because observational studies do not control for unmeasured confounders, the causal mechanisms remain to be established in randomized controlled trials. Finally, this study also points out the limited availability of cohort studies to analyze the relation between fruit and/or vegetable intake and CHD risk in Europe and Asia.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
5 Abbreviations used: CHD, coronary heart disease; MI, myocardial infarction; RR, relative risk. ![]()
Manuscript received 25 March 2006. Initial review completed 10 June 2006. Revision accepted 17 July 2006.
| LITERATURE CITED |
|---|
|
|
|---|
1. Van Duyn MA, Pivonka E. Overview of the health benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption for the dietetics professional: selected literature. J Am Diet Assoc. 2000;100:151121.[Medline]
2. Appel LJ, Moore TJ, Obarzanek E, Vollmer WM, Svetkey LP, Sacks FM, Bray GA, Vogt TM, Cutler JA, et al. A clinical trial of the effects of dietary patterns on blood pressure. DASH collaborative research group. N Engl J Med. 1997;336:111724.
3. Bazzano LA, Serdula MK, Liu S. Dietary intake of fruits and vegetables and risk of cardiovascular disease. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2003;5:4929.[Medline]
4. Ness AR, Powles JW. Fruit and vegetables, and cardiovascular disease: a review. Int J Epidemiol. 1997;26:113.
5. Pereira MA, O'Reilly E, Augustsson K, Fraser GE, Goldbourt U, Heitmann BL, Hallmans G, Knekt P, Liu S, et al. Dietary fiber and risk of coronary heart disease: a pooled analysis of cohort studies. Arch Intern Med. 2004;164:3706.
6. Dauchet L, Amouyel P, Dallongeville J. Fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of stroke: a meta-analysis of cohort studies. Neurology. 2005;65:11937.
7. He FJ, Nowson CA, MacGregor GA. Fruit and vegetable consumption and stroke: meta-analysis of cohort studies. Lancet. 2006;367:3206.[Medline]
8. Sahyoun NR, Jacques PF, Russell RM. Carotenoids, vitamins C and E, and mortality in an elderly population. Am J Epidemiol. 1996;144:50111.
9. Rissanen TH, Voutilainen S, Virtanen JK, Venho B, Vanharanta M, Mursu J, Salonen JT. Low intake of fruits, berries and vegetables is associated with excess mortality in men: the Kuopio ischaemic heart disease risk factor (KIHD) study. J Nutr. 2003;133:199204.
10. Mozaffarian D, Kumanyika SK, Lemaitre RN, Olson JL, Burke GL, Siscovick DS. Cereal, fruit, and vegetable fiber intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease in elderly individuals. JAMA. 2003;289:165966.
11. Strandhagen E, Hansson PO, Bosaeus I, Isaksson B, Eriksson H. High fruit intake may reduce mortality among middle-aged and elderly men. The study of men born in 1913. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2000;54:33741.[Medline]
12. Gaziano JM, Manson JE, Branch LG, Colditz GA, Willett WC, Buring JE. A prospective study of consumption of carotenoids in fruits and vegetables and decreased cardiovascular mortality in the elderly. Ann Epidemiol. 1995;5:25560.[Medline]
13. Key TJ, Thorogood M, Appleby PN, Burr ML. Dietary habits and mortality in 11,000 vegetarians and health conscious people: results of a 17 year follow up. BMJ. 1996;313:7759.
14. Mann JI, Appleby PN, Key TJ, Thorogood M. Dietary determinants of ischaemic heart disease in health conscious individuals. Heart. 1997;78:4505.
15. Dauchet L, Ferrieres J, Arveiler D, Yarnell JW, Gey F, Ducimetiere P, Ruidavets JB, Haas B, Evans A, et al. Frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption and coronary heart disease in France and Northern Ireland: the PRIME study. Br J Nutr. 2004;92:96372.[Medline]
16. Steffen LM, Jacobs DR, Jr., Stevens J, Shahar E, Carithers T, Folsom AR. Associations of whole-grain, refined-grain, and fruit and vegetable consumption with risks of all-cause mortality and incident coronary artery disease and ischemic stroke: the atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003;78:38390.
17. Kushi LH, Lew RA, Stare FJ, Ellison CR, el Lozy M, Bourke G, Daly L, Graham I, Hickey N, et al. Diet and 20-year mortality from coronary heart disease. The Ireland-Boston diet-heart study. N Engl J Med. 1985;312:8118.[Abstract]
18. Fraser GE, Sabate J, Beeson WL, Strahan TM. A possible protective effect of nut consumption on risk of coronary heart disease. The adventist health study. Arch Intern Med. 1992;152:141624.[Abstract]
19. Fehily AM, Yarnell JW, Sweetnam PM, Elwood PC. Diet and incident ischaemic heart disease: the Caerphilly study. Br J Nutr. 1993;69:30314.[Medline]
20. Pietinen P, Rimm EB, Korhonen P, Hartman AM, Willett WC, Albanes D, Virtamo J. Intake of dietary fiber and risk of coronary heart disease in a cohort of Finnish men. The alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene cancer prevention study. Circulation. 1996;94:27207.[Medline]
21. Hirvonen T, Pietinen P, Virtanen M, Ovaskainen ML, Hakkinen S, Albanes D, Virtamo J. Intake of flavonols and flavones and risk of coronary heart disease in male smokers. Epidemiology. 2001;12:627.[Medline]
22. Knekt P, Jarvinen R, Reunanen A, Maatela J. Flavonoid intake and coronary mortality in Finland: a cohort study. BMJ. 1996;312:47881.
23. Liu S, Manson JE, Lee IM, Cole SR, Hennekens CH, Willett WC, Buring JE. Fruit and vegetable intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: the women's health study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;72:9228.
24. Joshipura KJ, Hu FB, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, Rimm EB, Speizer FE, Colditz G, Ascherio A, Rosner B, et al. The effect of fruit and vegetable intake on risk for coronary heart disease. Ann Intern Med. 2001;134:110614.
25. Liu S, Lee IM, Ajani U, Cole SR, Buring JE, Manson JE. Intake of vegetables rich in carotenoids and risk of coronary heart disease in men: the physicians' health study. Int J Epidemiol. 2001;30:1305.
26. Bazzano LA, He J, Ogden LG, Loria CM, Vupputuri S, Myers L, Whelton PK. Fruit and vegetable intake and risk of cardiovascular disease in US adults: the first national health and nutrition examination survey epidemiologic follow-up study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002;76:939.
27. Tucker KL, Hallfrisch J, Qiao N, Muller D, Andres R, Fleg JL. The combination of high fruit and vegetable and low saturated fat intakes is more protective against mortality in aging men than is either alone: the Baltimore longitudinal study of aging. J Nutr. 2005;135:55661.
28. Sandhu MS, White IR, McPherson K. Systematic review of the prospective cohort studies on meat consumption and colorectal cancer risk: a meta-analytical approach. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2001;10:43946.
29. Greenland S, Longnecker MP. Methods for trend estimation from summarized dose-response data, with applications to meta-analysis. Am J Epidemiol. 1992;135:13019.
30. Egger M, Davey SG, Schneider M, Minder C. Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test. BMJ. 1997;315:62934.
31. Joshipura KJ, Ascherio A, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, Rimm EB, Speizer FE, Hennekens CH, Spiegelman D, Willett WC. Fruit and vegetable intake in relation to risk of ischemic stroke. JAMA. 1999;282:12339.
32. Hu FB, Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ, Ascherio A, Spiegelman D, Willett WC. Prospective study of major dietary patterns and risk of coronary heart disease in men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;72:91221.
33. Fung TT, Willett WC, Stampfer MJ, Manson JE, Hu FB. Dietary patterns and the risk of coronary heart disease in women. Arch Intern Med. 2001;161:185762.
34. Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Manson JE, Ascherio A, Colditz GA, Speizer FE, Hennekens CH, Willett WC. Dietary saturated fats and their food sources in relation to the risk of coronary heart disease in women. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;70:10018.
35. Leppala JM, Virtamo J, Fogelholm R, Huttunen JK, Albanes D, Taylor PR, Heinonen OP. Controlled trial of alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene supplements on stroke incidence and mortality in male smokers. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2000;20:2305.
36. Hennekens CH, Buring JE, Manson JE, Stampfer M, Rosner B, Cook NR, Belanger C, LaMotte F, Gaziano JM, et al. Lack of effect of long-term supplementation with beta carotene on the incidence of malignant neoplasms and cardiovascular disease. N Engl J Med. 1996;334:11459.
37. Brown BG, Zhao XQ, Chait A, Fisher LD, Cheung MC, Morse JS, Dowdy AA, Marino EK, Bolson EL, et al. Simvastatin and niacin, antioxidant vitamins, or the combination for the prevention of coronary disease. N Engl J Med. 2001;345:158392.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
S. Valtuena, N. Pellegrini, L. Franzini, M. A Bianchi, D. Ardigo, D. Del Rio, P. Piatti, F. Scazzina, I. Zavaroni, and F. Brighenti Food selection based on total antioxidant capacity can modify antioxidant intake, systemic inflammation, and liver function without altering markers of oxidative stress Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, May 1, 2008; 87(5): 1290 - 1297. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
U. Nothlings, M. B. Schulze, C. Weikert, H. Boeing, Y. T. van der Schouw, C. Bamia, V. Benetou, P. Lagiou, V. Krogh, J. W. J. Beulens, et al. Intake of Vegetables, Legumes, and Fruit, and Risk for All-Cause, Cardiovascular, and Cancer Mortality in a European Diabetic Population J. Nutr., April 1, 2008; 138(4): 775 - 781. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Rees, J. Stevenson, and on behalf of the British Menopause Society Council Primary prevention of coronary heart disease in women Menopause Int, March 1, 2008; 14(1): 40 - 45. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. H. Lichtenstein, H. Rasmussen, W. W. Yu, S. R. Epstein, and R. M. Russell Modified MyPyramid for Older Adults J. Nutr., January 1, 2008; 138(1): 5 - 11. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. E. O'Neil and T. A. Nicklas State of the Art Reviews: Relationship Between Diet/ Physical Activity and Health American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, December 1, 2007; 1(6): 457 - 481. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
N. R. Cook, C. M. Albert, J. M. Gaziano, E. Zaharris, J. MacFadyen, E. Danielson, J. E. Buring, and J. E. Manson A Randomized Factorial Trial of Vitamins C and E and Beta Carotene in the Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Women: Results From the Women's Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study Arch Intern Med, August 13, 2007; 167(15): 1610 - 1618. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Li, E. S. Ford, A. H. Mokdad, R. Jiles, and W. H. Giles Clustering of Multiple Healthy Lifestyle Habits and Health-Related Quality of Life Among U.S. Adults With Diabetes Diabetes Care, July 1, 2007; 30(7): 1770 - 1776. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. Dauchet, E. Kesse-Guyot, S. Czernichow, S. Bertrais, C. Estaquio, S. Peneau, A.-C. Vergnaud, S. Chat-Yung, K. Castetbon, V. Deschamps, et al. Dietary patterns and blood pressure change over 5-y follow-up in the SU.VI.MAX cohort Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, June 1, 2007; 85(6): 1650 - 1656. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||